A Grimm Christmas
by Zothar
Summary: Monroe gets a Christmas Eve visit from a new Grimm


Monroe sighed as he pushed open the door to his house, closing his eyes as some of the tension left his body. He shook the snow off of his coat and stomped his feet on the door mat as he started to remove his coat. The winter so far had been a wet one; cold and bitter, with slushy-like snow. If he could qualify it, this would probably be his least favorite type of weather. The fact that the conditions had his nose stuffed up beyond repair didn't help things either. Rosalee promised him something from the spice shop that would help, but she wasn't going to be home for a while yet. The joys of last-minute Christmas shoppers.

He grabbed a beer and flopped onto his couch, eyes absently scanning the decorations surrounding him. It wasn't as grand as it used to be; back when he was a bachelor there may have been a two-foot trail for guests to follow throughout his house. Nowadays the decorations resembled something much more conservative, with his favorite pieces on display artistically. It hadn't been an easy change for him; Christmas was one of the holidays he lived for, and decorations were his way of showing it. But Rosalee and her comfort easily beat out his desire for trinkets and displays. They had compromised, meeting somewhere in the middle: enough decorations that Monroe still felt at home, but not so many that Rosalee couldn't breathe.

In the end, he realized, he was all the happier for it.

He sniffed a couple of times, frustration building along with his anxiety. A blutbad without his nose was severely crippled, especially when someone was after you. The threats they had been receiving were starting to wear him a bit thin. So it was no surprise that the knock on the door caused him to jump a bit.

He growled slightly, a hint of red coming into is eyes, as he stood to investigate. The young face staring back at him through the window caused him to forget his ire.

"Trubel, hey," he said as he opened the door. "What's up? Come on in."

The girl nodded, entering his house looking like she always did: pensive. Her eyes scanned the place, going over every detail as though her life depended on it. At one point, it probably had.

"You like Christmas a lot," she finally said, not quite looking at him yet.

Monroe chuckled. "Yeah, well, it's kind of a bit deal for me. This isn't even all of my decorations; we went light this year." He skirted the topic of Rosalee's dislike of the holiday; no need to bring up what wasn't necessary.

"So what brings you here? Is Nick okay?" he asked, almost automatically. Typically unexpected visits and guests had something to do with their resident Grimm, something he had finally grown to accept. However, Trubel shook her head.

"Nick's fine; he's with Juliet figuring out their plans for tonight. Christmas Eve and all," she said, shrugging slightly as she finally looked at him. "Nick's… he's a cool guy, you know?"

"Don't I know it. The dude's saved my ass on more than one occasion," the Blutbad said lightheartedly. "He's a pretty rare find, for a Grimm. Then again, so are you."

Trubel shifted her weight slightly. "Thanks. Sorry about, you know, trying to kill you when we first met."

Monroe waved her off. "Don't worry about it; water under the bridge. Nothing worse than when Nick first met me."

Trubel's eyes returned to him, a bolder curious look to them. "Yeah? What happened?"

"He suspected me in one of his cases. A Blutbad had killed and kidnapped a couple of people, and he happened to see me woge from a ways off," Monroe explained, motioning for Trubel to sit. "Thing is, at the time Nick had no idea what a Blutbad was. He was brand new to the whole Grimm thing. He tried to have me arrested, but obviously they couldn't find anything on me. So he paid me a visit later that night after they'd let me go free."

Theresa leaned forward, caught up in the story. "What happened?"

"I jumped through that window and tackled him," Monroe said, motioning towards the nearby window. "We scuffled for a bit, but I wasn't too serious. I knew what he was, and I really didn't want trouble. He recruited me to help him find the real bad guy, be it against my will," he chuckled. "We've sorta had a working partnership since then."

Trubel sat back a small smile on her face. "So you just became friends?"

The tall man laughed harshly. "Hell no, not that fast. I couldn't stand the guy for a long time. Thing was, I was the only one he could talk to about Wessen stuff. And after a while, he just kinda grew on me. He's actually the reason I met Rosalee," Monroe added with a sip. "One of the cases he asked for my help on involved her, and I ended up playing bodyguard for a bit. We hit it off."

Theresa didn't answer, eyes wandering to the fireplace as she relaxed a bit on the couch. She seemed so peaceful for a moment that Monroe was afraid to move; it was nice to see her without the constant hardness behind her eyes. Life obviously hadn't been easy on the girl; how she had survived he had no idea. She was strong, no doubt. Too bad she was forced to be so.

After several long moments, Monroe cleared his throat. "So, uh, what brought you? Did you need help with anything?"

Shaken from her revere, Trubel shook her head quickly. "No; I just…" she started, eyes darting slightly as she searched for words. "I mean, Nick and Juliet were still kinda upset with what's been happening recently, and I think they needed space…" she trailed off. "I didn't mean to bother you on Christmas Eve though; I just didn't really think…"

Monroe waved her off once more. "You didn't bother anyone; I'm just waiting for Rosalee to get home from the spice shop." He paused for a moment looking at her carefully. "Do you have anyone to spend Christmas with, Theresa?"

The girl shook her head slowly, eyes down. Monroe nodded with finality. "Then you'll spend it with us; Rosalee won't mind and I am not going to accept no for an answer," he said quickly as she raised her head to protest.

Trubel smiled faintly, the stress leaving her eyes once more. "Thanks," she said softly.

Monroe smiled warmly. "Hey, of course. Happy to have you. So, you wanna see some more decorations? I can show you a few of the cool ones that didn't make it out this year too."

Theresa nodded. "I'd like that."

* * *

><p>Headcanon: Trubel actually really likes Monroe's vegetarian cooking.<p> 


End file.
